Protected Species List Altered

All of Idaho's bats, reptiles, amphibians and a few ground squirrels have been listed as protected nongame species with the approval of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The Commission acted at its meeting in Boise March 24-26 to alter the list of species protected in Idaho by the Department of Fish and Game. Protected nongame status means that people cannot kill or possess these species except as provided in Idaho code and by Commission regulations. For most Idahoans, the new rules are unlikely to make any difference. Chuck Harris, Nongame Program Manager, noted that Idaho law will continue to allow the killing of bats, rattlesnakes, or other protected nongame species when personal health, safety, or property is at issue. Killing a rattlesnake in the backyard or a bat that flies into your house will not bring a visit from the local conservation officer. For bats, the primary interest is in protecting hibernating, maternity, and critical roosting sites. Bats are beneficial as predators of mosquitoes and night flying insects that can damage agricultural crops and forests as well as transmit diseases such as West Nile virus. The classification change will still allow Idahoans to collect and keep up to four live native reptiles or amphibians. The list of protected ground squirrel species grew due to the rarity of two and the undetermined status of another. Merriam's ground squirrel is a subspecies found in Owyhee County south of the Snake River, west of Reynolds Creek, and north of Cow Creek. The core of this species' range is in Oregon, but it is in decline there as well. The Wyoming ground squirrel is a subspecies found in southern Owhyee and Twin Falls counties along the Idaho-Nevada border. Little information exists on the current status of the Piute ground squirrel subspecies found in the Snake River Plain north of the Snake River from Bliss to Dubois. Surveys conducted in 2000 found it at only four of 24 historical sites. All of these ground squirrels live in shrub-steppe habitats where other species such as sage grouse and pygmy rabbits have also been experiencing similar population declines.